atia abaw think kabul for us. always nice to talk with you. >>> well, the vice president is now the latest from team obama to call the president the underdog heading into 2012. >> the american people are dissatisfied for the state of the nation at the moment. that all by itself is enough to make you the underdog. >> is it strong enough of a republican party for its nominee to beat this president? >> oh, absolutely, absolutely. it's strong enough to beat both of us. >> msnbc political analyst michele bernard is president of the bernard center for women, politics and public policy. and covering politics for roll call and mr. shakir is vice president of the center for american progress. welcome, all of you. faz, let me start with you. what do you think of joe biden's very blunt assessment of 2012? >> well, i think it's clear that president obama's struggling right now, but i think as the contest heats up and you've got a republican contender to pit himself off against, he's going to benefit from that, but i think tha